Season 1, Episode 4: Rolling Over
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The podcast episode “Baby Myths Busted: Rolling Over” delves into the developmental milestone of rolling for babies. It emphasizes the importance of tummy time and the ability to control the body, particularly in bringing the legs up in a diamond shape. The conversation underscores the distinction between belly and back movements, highlighting their respective roles in fostering crawling and rolling skills. The text discusses the process of helping babies develop their motor skills and the importance of allowing them to move freely, as well as the significance of placing babies in positions that stimulate muscle action and the right zones for development. The conversation also touches on the benefits of letting babies move without restrictive clothing, promoting better sensation through the skin and a heightened awareness of body position. The speaker highlights the decline in spatial awareness skills among young people due to limited physical movement. The episode also discusses the importance of encouraging babies to roll on both sides equally, noting that babies may have a preference for rolling to one side, and suggests ways to encourage them to roll on both sides. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of muscle control and its role in facilitating movements like rolling and later activities such as standing and walking. The conversation highlights the significance of rolling and crawling for walking well and mentions that the absence of these movement patterns can impact more complex movements like walking or running. Finally, the speaker emphasizes the importance of avoiding traditional baby rolling practices and suggests alternative methods to familiarize babies with the motion.
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Unraveling Baby Myths: The Essential Art of Rolling Over
As parents, we are often bombarded with myths and misconceptions about our little ones’ developmental milestones. From the moment they enter the world, we’re faced with a myriad of advice and old wives’ tales. One such pivotal milestone that’s often surrounded by myths and misinformation is the act of rolling over for babies.
In our latest podcast episode, “Baby Myths Busted: Rolling Over,” we dive deep into the significance of this developmental stage. We unravel the essential techniques, discuss the importance of tummy time, and shed light on the impact of body control on your baby’s journey to rolling over.
The conversation emphasizes the crucial role of tummy time in fostering the ability to control the body, particularly in bringing the legs up in a diamond shape. We underscore the distinction between belly and back movements, illuminating their roles in fostering crawling and rolling skills. It’s all about understanding how these early movements pave the way for future physical milestones.
Moreover, we emphasize the significance of allowing babies to move freely and the importance of placing them in positions that stimulate muscle action and promote development in the right zones. Our conversation also touches on the benefits of letting babies move without restrictive clothing, enhancing their skin sensation and body position awareness.
Intriguingly, we delve into the decline of spatial awareness skills among young people due to limited physical movement, shedding light on the impact of restricted movement in the early stages of development. We also discuss the importance of encouraging babies to roll on both sides equally, offering practical tips for parents to nurture this balanced development.
Furthermore, we underscore the importance of muscle control and its pivotal role in facilitating movements like rolling, crawling, and the subsequent activities of standing and walking. It’s all about understanding how these early movements are the building blocks for more complex activities later in life.
Our episode also emphasizes the importance of avoiding traditional baby rolling practices and suggests alternative methods to familiarize babies with this essential motion. By challenging conventional wisdom, we empower parents to explore new approaches in supporting their little one’s development.
Join us as we unravel the myths and unveil the science behind the art of rolling over for babies. It’s time to equip yourself with the knowledge and tools to support your baby’s journey towards mastering this fundamental milestone.
Tune in to our podcast episode and embark on a journey of discovery, empowerment, and debunking myths, as we delve into the world of baby development. Let’s debunk the myths and embrace the essential art of rolling over together!
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The episode focuses on the developmental milestone of rolling for babies, emphasizing the significance of tummy time and the ability to control the body, particularly in bringing the legs up in a diamond shape.
It highlights the distinction between belly and back movements, and their respective roles in fostering crawling and rolling skills.
The conversation delves into the process of helping babies develop their motor skills, emphasizing the importance of allowing them to move freely and being placed in positions that stimulate muscle action and the right zones for development.
The benefits of letting babies move without restrictive clothing are discussed, promoting better sensation through the skin and a heightened awareness of body position.
The episode also addresses the decline in spatial awareness skills among young people due to limited physical movement.
Emphasis is placed on encouraging babies to roll on both sides equally, acknowledging that babies may have a preference for rolling to one side, and suggesting ways to encourage them to roll on both sides.
The importance of muscle control and its role in facilitating movements like rolling, standing, and walking is highlighted.
The significance of rolling and crawling for walking well is noted, and the impact of the absence of these movement patterns on more complex movements like walking or running is discussed.
Finally, the speaker emphasizes the importance of avoiding traditional baby rolling practices and suggests alternative methods to familiarize babies with the motion.
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Baby Myths Busted. A practical guide to giving your child the best start in life.
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Hi everyone, welcome back to our podcast Baby Myths Busted. I'm Jacqui, this is Simon. Hi Simon.
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Hello Jacqui.
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Today we are going to talk about rolling. Now Simon, when we talk about rolling,
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we're talking about what? Belly to back, back to belly, both?
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I'm talking about back to belly.
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All right, so that's what we want. Back to belly.
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That is the developmental achievement that you want, yes.
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Okay, when do we want this achievement?
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Rolling on average will be completed at about four and a half to five months old.
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Okay, so.
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Done well.
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Yep, right. So we've done tummy time by about three months, they should be in a really nice
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tummy time position, hands in a diamond shape, head able to get up and look around.
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Yep.
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Okay, and then how do they progress to rolling? So they're on their back.
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Yep, so on your back, it's a patterning from your back.
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Yep.
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At about three months of age, baby should be able to control their body,
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to be able to draw their legs up to, so their knees sit above just about their hip line and
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their feet are almost together. So they're kind of, again, like your legs are in a bit of a
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diamond shape as you bring them up.
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Okay.
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Knees bent, nice and relaxed, but knees in line with your hips. And from there,
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that sets a foundation for your belly muscles to be able to start to generate this idea around
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rolling. And rolling comes from the motivation of trying to grasp or get to an object, essentially.
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Okay.
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And then you eventually figure out, oh, cool, if I actually roll over there, I'll get closer to it.
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So it's then about putting it all together. So you're putting all the patterning
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things that you did for the first three to four months of your life,
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and then trying to put it all together in one smooth movement.
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So you'll see them bring their legs up and then they should have them up in that diamond position
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and looking at whatever they're trying to roll towards, which is important,
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and having their arm outstretched on that bottom side, trying to reach for that toy.
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The connection between that arm on the floor and their legs up in the air will
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stimulate your oblique muscles to pull your hips up and over the top and roll over.
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So the foundation from the bottom arm, which you get from having a really good position with
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your three-month position on your belly in terms of your tummy time, that sets a foundation then
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for you to anchor those oblique muscles to help pull your hips up and over the top so you can roll
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over.
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So does that get stimulated from being on your belly? We talked about the diamond position
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with your arms. Is that what stimulates the beginning of that pattern for the baby to then
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be able to lift their legs up and get that oblique?
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So the belly position and the back position are two different patterns.
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So your belly position, when you're trying to practice for your tummy time,
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that's all about generating a good crawling motion.
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On your back movements, it's all about generating a good rolling movement.
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Because once you've rolled and you're on your belly, that's it.
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Now it's belly time.
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And then you've got to go through the process of getting up.
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And that's all being on your belly positional development.
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Rolling is an early component of movement, but it's vitally important because as humans,
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we need to get up off the floor.
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And you should be able to roll yourself over onto your hands and knees and then stand up.
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The positional aspects of learning how to do this requires you to be on your back.
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And that, unfortunately, in some instances,
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gets neglected because we're so conscious of it's tummy to play, back to sleep.
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And so people forget to put their babies on their back to play.
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But theoretically, you should have the same amount of time on your belly to play
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and on your back to play.
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So very typically, if you've got a baby who doesn't really like tummy time,
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just flip them on their back for a little bit and see what happens.
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And then put them on the belly again.
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And then put them on the back and then put them on their belly.
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They've got to figure out how to do both.
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Okay.
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And so is it just, do the babies just naturally put their legs up in this diamond shape?
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Is that a comfortable position for them?
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Is that just what, if everything's functioning well, that's just what they gravitate to?
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Well, yeah.
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So the foundation is set by a couple of structures,
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similar to being on your belly and allowing your head to be pushed up in the air.
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So you have your elbows and your pubic bone at the bottom and front of your pelvis
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as your anchor points, essentially.
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And your anchor points for getting your legs up in the air are your shoulder blades
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sitting nicely against your rib cage and then brace against the floor.
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Yeah.
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So make sure they're descended enough to then connect with your oblique muscles.
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Yeah.
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And then you also need your tailbone or your sacrum to be able to be flat against the floor.
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And that'll initiate your belly muscles or your trunk muscles to then
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draw your legs towards your chest.
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And that's when you start to get that diamond shape in your knees being pulled.
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Yeah, right.
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Above your hips.
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So it's all a positional thing.
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Like if everything skeletally is sitting in the right position, the actions will follow.
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Correct.
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Right.
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Okay.
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So they get their legs up first and then after a period of time,
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they start to put their arms out and start to drop their legs over to roll.
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Yeah.
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So in the first three months when you're on your back, yeah,
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the goal is just be able to get your legs up and work within that one plane.
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In the medical world, we call it a sagittal plane.
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So be able to get that stabilization first.
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And if you can get that, then you can work into the different directions of movement.
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Yeah.
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And so then once you get to that stage and you've got that covered, you're all over it,
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then you can start to integrate other parts of your system to want to put it all together.
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So you'll integrate your visual system via look, say to the left,
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and then want to go to that toy and go, oh, how am I going to get to the left?
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And you just try and figure it out.
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You might see their legs go side to side for a bit trying to figure out how to put it together.
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Yeah.
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And then put their feet back down.
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No, I can't do that yet.
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Oh, yeah, okay.
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And then just keep on practicing and keep on practicing.
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Just keep pulling their legs up, keep pulling their legs up.
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And eventually they'll figure it out.
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Yeah.
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As long as you've got the foundations underlying that and they've got the right
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zones being stimulated in the right way, then yeah, absolutely.
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The muscle action will just come naturally from that.
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And so are all the little add-ons like one day reach their hands up
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towards the sky or touch their knees or reach for their toes or something,
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are they all significant in this development?
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Or is it just they're getting used to being in that position they can sort of...
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So you'll gauge as to whether if your child's ready to roll or is going to about to try to roll
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is if they can place their hands essentially on their genitalia.
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Oh, good.
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If they can place their hands there, they're starting to get the foundation to be able to
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roll properly.
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So when I say that, they've got to have their legs up in that diamond position and they have
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their hands or hand on their genitalia.
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Then they're starting to try and compute together, how am I going to generate this roll?
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Really?
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That's cool.
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So maybe an odd question, but maybe not now that you've said that.
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Do you, if it's warm enough, get your baby to do all of this type of thing in the nude?
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As much as he can, yeah.
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Really?
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Because I remember you got our boys to be nudists at this age, but you're the one that
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knew what you were doing.
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I just went with it.
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So there's a purpose to that.
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It's better grounding on the floor, better sensation through the skin.
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Because they're not wearing a thick nappy.
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Yeah.
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And then you've got so much sensation to draw from to be able to determine, am I in the
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right position?
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Am I not?
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Oh, no, that didn't work when I was there, but it worked when I was here.
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So let's go back over there.
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But if you're wearing big, thick jumpers and minimal, big suits and whatever else, then
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yeah, it makes it harder to be able to feel that.
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Well, we also had rules at home that Simon set about the types of clothing the boys wore.
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So nothing restrictive, nothing tight.
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They couldn't wear cute little denim shorts because that was going to restrict their ability
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to lift their legs and possibly roll.
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So just sort of tights and comfortable stuff or loose things.
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Or just a nappy.
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Or nudity.
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Yeah, or nudity.
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Yeah.
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So because you want these children to be able to feel their body, to know where it is in
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space, which is such an important thing and which is like a skill that is being lost in
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these younger kids that I'm seeing now, especially these teenagers, early 20s.
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Yeah.
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It's just not a thing that they are good at.
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Why?
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What are we doing wrong?
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We're not letting them struggle to figure it out for themselves.
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Okay, yeah.
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You say that a lot.
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We're trying to be so helpful because we know so much.
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We want to love our children and we want to help them so much.
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I want to help you do everything because I'm so helpful.
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Yeah.
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And really, it's actually the opposite.
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Yeah, it's detrimental to the...
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Detrimental to their development.
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Yeah.
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And as with our background, both being in athlete development, we saw a bunch of kids
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who just great athletes, but just struggled to figure out where their limbs were in space.
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Yeah.
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Outside of their chosen sport, they could not coordinate things.
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Yeah.
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Wow.
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Okay.
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So nudity is good.
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All right.
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And maybe like a soft, one of those sort of soft play mats or something like that, obviously.
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So they're comfortable on the floor or on a rug or whatever.
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The firmer the surface, the better.
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The firmer, the better.
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Okay.
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So not on the bed?
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Not on the bed.
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Right.
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Okay.
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Like, yeah, it's fine, but that's not your primary place of allowing them to discover
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movement.
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Yeah.
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Okay.
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And like with tummy time, you can put a toy down in front of them to give them some motivation
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to look around and that sort of thing.
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So do we do the same sort of thing here with a roll?
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Absolutely.
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And so how do you do that?
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Put a toy on one side?
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Well, no, initially to try and get those legs up, you get the...
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A play gym?
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Yeah.
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Something like that, where you've got the toys sitting above you and like, and they've
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got some...
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Once they get to six weeks old, because it's no point doing it before that, because they
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can't actually see anything with any clarity.
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But once they've got that ability to fixate things optically, then you can get, yeah,
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those play gyms or whatever, where you've got the toys that are hung over the top in
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like a rainbow formation.
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So they can look out and want to feel motivated to bring their legs up and kick them or reach
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their arms up and touch them or something like that.
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That's a lovely little motivating piece of equipment.
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And when it comes to choosing things like a play gym, are we looking for the pretty ones
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that are all minimalist and all beige with wooden frame, or is that not enough?
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Can they not see that well enough at that young age that we need them to develop this
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pattern over?
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Do you need the bright colors and the contrasting patterns and things?
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No.
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Doesn't matter?
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It's just something.
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Just something.
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Okay.
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All right.
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They don't know what they're getting unless they get what they get.
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So if they just know bright colors, because all you've been showing is toys that are bright,
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then they'll expect brightness everywhere.
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And so then if you introduce a dull toy, no chance they'll be interested in it.
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Yeah, okay.
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So the duller the toys, the duller the motivation, the better.
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All right.
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So that sort of scandy nursery look that everyone loves is actually good.
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Not bad, yeah.
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Yeah, all right.
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That's good to know.
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So they need to roll both sides equally?
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Both sides equally.
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Is it common that they'll roll one side and not the other, or start on one side and not
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pick up the other side for a while, or?
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They'll always have a side that they prefer to roll to.
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Okay.
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But you don't want a toy, for example, to be on the right side of the child and they
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have to roll to the left and then maneuver themselves over to the toy.
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Hang on, go again.
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So you don't want the toy on the right side of the child?
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No, if there's a toy on the right side.
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Oh, if there's a toy, yeah.
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You don't want them to roll to the left and then get themselves across to the toy to get
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to the toy.
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How do you?
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You just want to roll them to the right.
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They just want to be able to roll to the right.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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But they might prefer to go left if they're going to try and move somewhere, not necessarily
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go for a toy or something.
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You just don't want them to go, oh, that's my favorite toy over there, but I don't like
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rolling right.
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So I'm going to roll left and then just try and drag myself over there to get it.
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Right, okay.
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So how do we encourage them to roll both sides?
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Is it just going to happen if everything is functioning how it should?
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Yep, should happen naturally no matter what.
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Okay.
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And so if they are doing something like that, because they have a massive preference for
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one side and you don't see them rolling right, and no matter how much you encourage them,
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they're just going to go left to go right.
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Yeah.
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Then bring them in.
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You might take them to someone who, yeah, again, like a pediatric physio or someone
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who has a passion for pediatric development.
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Yeah.
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But one simple thing you can try is literally, so if they don't like rolling left, you might
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put them directly next to the most blank wall possible on their right side.
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And so the only thing that is good is on their left side.
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Yeah.
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And maybe it's just a motivational thing they need to help with the learning of the
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skills to then be able to do it.
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Yeah.
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But if there's some type of musculoskeletal, I want to use the word blockage, that stops
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them from doing it, then you've got to try and resolve that.
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So put something really motivating on the side that they don't want to roll to and
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essentially block them with a wall on the other side.
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Yep.
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Okay.
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And I know we did that with our firstborn.
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Yep.
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Because he was late to roll.
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Yes.
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And when he finally did it, he was so exhausted he passed out afterwards.
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Correct.
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So is that because it was just so difficult for him to create that pathway?
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So much brain power was taken to make that happen.
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Because of, like, he had a few things going on, but because of he had a flat head, he
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had...
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Doesn't have the best genetics either.
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Oh, okay.
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Sorry.
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He's unfortunately got my neural system, nerve system, which is not the most robust
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thing in the world.
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Yeah.
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So he could have gone way off the tracks.
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Well, if we didn't do as much of it, he probably wouldn't have rolled.
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Yeah, right.
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Or not rolled well.
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Okay.
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Okay.
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Yeah.
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So just a few things going on for him that made it more difficult for him to create that
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pathway.
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Yeah.
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And all those things will be more, there'll be different things that'll have an impact
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on all different kids.
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But one thing that's really impactful for this position on your back and trying to generate
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a roll is a very common thing that I see with kids who don't like rolling or don't
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like rolling well or don't like being on their back is, I suppose, the supposed difference
15:21 - 15:25
in the length of your chest relative to the belly.
15:25 - 15:25
Yeah.
15:25 - 15:30
So, like, if you measure, say, from the top of their sternum near their collarbones there
15:30 - 15:33
to the bottom of their sternum, and then you take a measure from the bottom of their sternum
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all the way down to their pubic bone.
15:36 - 15:36
Yeah.
15:36 - 15:39
By three months of age, that should be pretty similar.
15:39 - 15:40
Oh, right.
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Because then you've got the adequate control of your abdominal and thorax muscles to then
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be able to generate a good movement on their back.
15:47 - 15:49
So that's not a growth thing.
15:49 - 15:56
That's a positional thing that's controlled by how well you can switch certain muscles
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on and relax others or whatever.
15:58 - 15:59
Is that what you mean?
15:59 - 15:59
Yeah, essentially.
15:59 - 16:01
It's a muscle control thing, yeah.
16:01 - 16:02
Okay.
16:02 - 16:07
So if the right muscles aren't doing the right job, then they won't draw the skeletal system
16:07 - 16:12
into the right foundation to then be able to generate the next line of movements, which
16:12 - 16:13
might be trying to roll.
16:13 - 16:17
They might be able to get away with it at a lower level activity, like just drawing their
16:17 - 16:21
legs up into that three-month-old baby position where their knees are just above their hips,
16:21 - 16:25
but they might not then be able to roll because that's too challenging for that particular
16:25 - 16:25
posture.
16:25 - 16:26
Oh, okay.
16:26 - 16:26
Right.
16:26 - 16:27
Okay.
16:27 - 16:31
So they might be able to get away with it all the way through until they try and stand
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up and they can't pull themselves to stand or their walking's a bit weird or whatever.
16:36 - 16:36
Oh, right.
16:36 - 16:38
Eventually it'll show up.
16:38 - 16:39
Okay.
16:39 - 16:43
And maybe, maybe not in that period, maybe not until they're older?
16:43 - 16:43
Correct.
16:43 - 16:46
And it can come out in like their posture or...
16:46 - 16:47
Yeah.
16:47 - 16:47
Okay.
16:47 - 16:51
Once they're upright, you will know if it's coming out or it'll come out once they're
16:51 - 16:51
upright.
16:51 - 16:52
Okay.
16:52 - 16:57
Because they either look beautiful, perfectly nice, straight, heads on straight, shoulders
16:57 - 17:01
are relaxed, all that sort of thing, or they just look a bit awkward.
17:01 - 17:05
Well, walking, when a kid first walks, it should just feel like, look like it's the
17:05 - 17:07
most natural thing in the world, which...
17:07 - 17:08
Yeah, true.
17:08 - 17:10
I suppose that's what we're looking for.
17:10 - 17:14
Like a parent can hopefully look at their baby and think that looks comfortable and
17:14 - 17:15
natural or it doesn't.
17:15 - 17:16
Yeah.
17:16 - 17:20
Now on that, what does a good roll look like?
17:20 - 17:26
So you've got to draw your diamond legs up and your knees will probably come up towards
17:26 - 17:30
your, somewhere between your belly button and your hips, somewhere in that level.
17:30 - 17:31
Yeah.
17:31 - 17:35
And once they get to there, I suppose it's talking about in slow-mo, but it all kind
17:35 - 17:38
of happens in synchronous with itself.
17:38 - 17:38
Yeah.
17:38 - 17:42
Head will turn or maybe head turns first before legs come up.
17:42 - 17:42
Yeah.
17:42 - 17:47
One of those two things to get their eyes on an object, they'll outstretch their hand
17:47 - 17:49
to try and get to the object.
17:49 - 17:52
They'll use that base to pull their legs across.
17:52 - 17:55
And as they're pulling their legs across, they'll be able to pivot themselves around
17:55 - 17:58
that bottom shoulder and then end up on their belly.
17:58 - 18:00
That sets them up for what happens next?
18:01 - 18:01
Yeah.
18:01 - 18:08
So there's two major movement patterns that you require to be able to walk well.
18:08 - 18:10
And one of them is rolling and one of them is crawling.
18:10 - 18:10
Okay.
18:10 - 18:14
So if you don't have either one of those, then part of your walking pattern is going
18:14 - 18:14
to be disrupted.
18:14 - 18:15
Yeah.
18:15 - 18:15
Okay.
18:15 - 18:20
So, and then within crawling itself, you've got rolling patterning within that too.
18:20 - 18:23
So if you want to have a kid that crawls really nicely, you need to get them to be able to
18:23 - 18:24
roll well.
18:24 - 18:27
And if you want a kid that, if you've got a kid that crawls really nicely, they're going
18:27 - 18:28
to walk well.
18:28 - 18:28
Yeah.
18:28 - 18:32
But if you don't have either of those, then the greatest complexity of movement, like
18:32 - 18:37
walking, running or something else sport wise or movement wise is going to be impacted.
18:37 - 18:44
So we touched a bit on rolling belly to back in the last episode, but, and we spoke about
18:44 - 18:48
how if they do that in the first few weeks or whatever, it's not a purposeful movement.
18:48 - 18:53
It's just how they're trying to get into that tummy time position.
18:54 - 19:01
If they're doing a belly to back roll at around the four months, four and a half months, five
19:01 - 19:04
month time, is that a learned pattern?
19:04 - 19:10
And is that them trying to compensate because they can't really roll this way very effectively
19:10 - 19:11
or?
19:11 - 19:12
Not necessarily.
19:12 - 19:12
Okay.
19:12 - 19:16
But it should look different to like an earlier pattern.
19:16 - 19:17
Okay.
19:17 - 19:24
So if you feel babies rolling from their belly to their back, it won't be led by their head
19:24 - 19:24
or their arms.
19:24 - 19:26
It'll be led by their legs.
19:26 - 19:32
So they'll draw their legs or one leg underneath them as they roll onto one shoulder and then
19:32 - 19:33
they'll roll onto their back.
19:33 - 19:35
Oh, okay.
19:35 - 19:37
So rolling like that is acceptable?
19:37 - 19:38
That's acceptable.
19:38 - 19:43
It's just not needed in life to be able to move nicely, but it's got the components of
19:43 - 19:45
rolling and crawling within that.
19:45 - 19:45
Okay.
19:45 - 19:49
So you don't need to be able to be good at that movement, but.
19:49 - 19:54
So it's not an action that we're hoping for and that there's an important part of their
19:54 - 19:54
development.
19:54 - 19:56
It's just, Hey, I'm fancy.
19:56 - 20:00
I can do this as well as roll back to belly.
20:00 - 20:05
If a parent comes in and says, Hey, my child can't roll from their belly to their back.
20:05 - 20:06
I'll say, I don't care.
20:06 - 20:06
Yeah.
20:06 - 20:08
It's not important.
20:08 - 20:09
I can't say I really do it.
20:10 - 20:11
Well.
20:11 - 20:12
As an adult.
20:12 - 20:12
Yeah.
20:12 - 20:15
Well, it's just illogical to do it.
20:15 - 20:17
Why would you go from your belly?
20:17 - 20:21
And the goal with learning, moving these first 12 to 18 months of life is to get upright.
20:21 - 20:21
Yeah.
20:21 - 20:22
To stand up and walk.
20:22 - 20:23
Yeah.
20:23 - 20:28
So if that's the motivation, what is the point from going on your belly, which you can incrementally
20:28 - 20:30
go through different steps just to stand up?
20:30 - 20:35
Why would you go from your belly onto your back where you can't stand up from as a child?
20:35 - 20:37
You can't do one of those cool break dancing moves.
20:37 - 20:39
So flip yourself onto your feet and stand up.
20:39 - 20:39
Yeah.
20:39 - 20:42
You have to roll back onto your belly to then get back up.
20:42 - 20:49
So there's no reason why a child should need to go from their belly to their back to then
20:49 - 20:50
be able to get upright.
20:50 - 20:51
Yeah.
20:51 - 20:52
There's no logical reason for that.
20:52 - 20:53
Yeah.
20:53 - 20:53
Okay.
20:53 - 20:57
You might see it in play or something, if they're really competent with any sort of-
20:57 - 20:57
See it in play.
20:57 - 21:04
себÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿUSIC See it in play or something, if they're really competent with any sort of-Dictionary
21:28 - 21:33
don't sort of roll for them.Dictionary Yeah, don't roll for them, but what you can
21:33 - 21:39
do to help them realize that rolling is actually a thing is that when you're changing their
21:39 - 21:46
nappy and you can do this from day one, you pick them up by rolling them, not by holding
21:46 - 21:51
them up to you. Like say they're on their back, you get their little hands in this cube
21:51 - 21:54
because they grip onto you and then you pull them up into whatever position and you pick
21:54 - 22:00
them up from there. You roll them to one side and then pick them up from underneath
22:00 - 22:04
their belly and that's, they're up like that. And then when you put them down, you've got
22:04 - 22:09
your hand on their chest or their belly and you roll them slowly onto their back.
22:09 - 22:13
Yeah, okay. I remember being coached through this again. All these memories are flooding
22:13 - 22:20
back to me. I never, I probably partly knew the purpose at the time, but I just went with
22:20 - 22:22
it. But now it's all coming back to me.
22:22 - 22:27
So it's all about the movement experience. So giving the kids the experience of knowing
22:27 - 22:32
that it's possible to be able to control your body in different directions of movement.
22:32 - 22:36
It's not just a up-down movement pattern that they need.
22:36 - 22:41
Yeah. Okay. That's a good one. All right. Anything else you want to tell us about rolling?
22:41 - 22:47
Besides the fact that it's really important to do really well? I suppose the, what is
22:47 - 22:50
not a good roll? I suppose we'd probably talk about that.
22:50 - 22:55
Not a good roll is one that they lead with their head and they arch their back and roll
22:55 - 22:56
over like a log.
22:56 - 23:01
Oh yeah. Like sort of bringing their chest up first, arching underneath there.
23:01 - 23:02
Yep.
23:02 - 23:03
Okay.
23:03 - 23:07
And then if their legs aren't lifting up and over, then they haven't got the pattern right.
23:07 - 23:11
Because some will sort of arch their back and try and push with their feet off the floor
23:11 - 23:13
and just, and throw themselves over.
23:13 - 23:14
Yep.
23:14 - 23:16
Okay. Yeah. And they haven't established the correct pattern.
23:16 - 23:17
Correct.
23:17 - 23:18
Yep.
23:18 - 23:22
And they haven't established the foundations for enable those oblique muscles, which run
23:22 - 23:23
across the front of your belly.
23:23 - 23:24
Yeah.
23:24 - 23:30
To be able to generate the required movement to lift and pull the legs over the top.
23:30 - 23:31
Yeah.
23:31 - 23:34
Those kids who tend to roll like that are usually the kids who don't do their three-month
23:34 - 23:36
belly position right.
23:36 - 23:40
Ah, yes. They all lead into the next. Yep.
23:40 - 23:45
Yeah. Everything leads into the next. So those kids that have a lot of like muscle tone,
23:45 - 23:49
you'll see that the ridging or whatever in their lower back or their neck and they're
23:49 - 23:52
on their belly because they just haven't positioned their, haven't got their arms in that diamond
23:52 - 23:56
position. That'll transfer into their rolling. You'll see them just trying to crank on with
23:56 - 24:01
their back muscles to try and push and arch their back across and kick off with their
24:01 - 24:03
legs because that's the only pattern they know.
24:03 - 24:04
Yep.
24:04 - 24:07
And it'll just keep on going every single movement.
24:07 - 24:13
Yes. Okay. And you'll see it really obviously one day. So the sooner you can intervene with
24:13 - 24:16
any poor patterning, the better, right?
24:16 - 24:18
The earlier you intervene, the easier it is to change.
24:18 - 24:22
Okay. Because if they get the tummy time right, then they're more likely to get the rolling
24:22 - 24:23
right and so on and so on.
24:23 - 24:27
Oh yeah. Tummy time, get the tummy time right. There's foundations within that that help
24:27 - 24:32
with rolling, but then you need time on your back and get the right foundations or either
24:32 - 24:36
the shoulder blades and the tailbone to be able to be flat on the floor to enable the
24:36 - 24:40
belly and thorax muscles to do the job, to lift the legs into that three-month position
24:40 - 24:41
in the first place.
24:41 - 24:42
Yep.
24:42 - 24:44
And then combine the two to be able to actually roll over.
24:44 - 24:49
Okay. So break their day up into your quarters, on your belly, on your back, on your side,
24:49 - 24:53
on your side. Get them in the noon and get down on the ground with them. Look for the
24:53 - 25:00
natural, comfortable movements that they just tend to do if everything's going well.
25:00 - 25:04
It should just look like it's one fluid movement, not 10 different things going on and try and
25:04 - 25:05
make it happen.
25:05 - 25:11
Okay. All right. Sounds good. So hopefully that's cleared up some questions about rolling
25:12 - 25:18
and what's good, what's not, what's expected, what's not. So, all right, that is rolling.
25:18 - 25:22
Next episode, we're going to talk about equipment, which is one of Simon's favorite things to
25:22 - 25:23
talk about.
25:23 - 25:26
Your favorite's an interesting word.
25:26 - 25:32
So that'll be an interesting one next. So thank you for joining us today. We'll see
25:32 - 25:33
you next time.
25:33 - 25:34
Bye.
25:34 - 25:34
